Africa

Nelson Mandela … Highlighting his words and ideas

Nelson Mandela ... Highlighting his words and ideas

Nelson Mandela has died yesterday night in Johannesburg, he is 95 years old. He was an activist fighting against apartheid, he turned into the most famous political prisoner in the world, and then he became the President of South Africa, where he was enjoying great popularity and he was highly respected.
Nelson Mandela … Highlighting his words and ideas
The following are selected excerpts from Mandela’s words:

– A press release of the African National Congress issued on June 26, 1961: “For my part, I was the one to choose. I would not leave South Africa and will not give up. Freedom will never be gained but only through adversity, sacrifice and the revolutionary work. Struggle is my life. I will continue to fight for freedom until the last days of my life”.

– A speech addressed during his trial on charges of treason on April 20, 1964: “Throughout my life, I dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people”.

“I fought against the domination of the whites, and I also fought against the domination of the blacks. I was adhered to the principle of the free democratic society, where everybody lives together in harmony and with equal opportunities”.

“It is a principle and I hope to live for it and to see it achieved. But if necessary – Oh God – I am ready to sacrifice my life for this principle”.

– When he was released from prison on February 11, 1990: “I stand here before you not as a messenger but as a servile servant in front of you in front of the people. Your tireless and historic sacrifices are what made it possible for me to stand here today. Therefore, I put what is left of my life at your service”.

– In front of the UN Special Commission to combat discrimination on June 22, 1990: “The crime of racial discrimination will continue to be an endless indelible lesion in the history of mankind. The coming generations will definitely wonder: What is the mistake made to create this regime itself after the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”?

“It will remain forever an accusation and a challenge for both men and women of conscience, for all of us have spent all this time to stand up and say ‘Enough’”.

– In his first speech as a president of South Africa, on the tenth of May 1994: “It is time to heal the wounds … It’s time to overcome the chasm that separated us. It is time to build”.

– From his autobiography, “My long journey to freedom” in 1994: “No one was born hating others because of the color of their skin, their background, or their religion. People learn how to hate, and if they could learn how to hate, they could learn how to love, because love is original in the hearts of the people and not vice versa”.

– In a speech at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies on July 11, 1997: “It will be a cruel irony by history, if Africa’s acts to breathe new life on the continent caused a new assail on Africa – as happened in the nineteenth century – so as to plunder the riches of the continent and to leave it once again the most poorer”.

– During the 90s birthday of Walter Sisulu, who is also one of the heroes who resisted against racial discrimination, has spent more than 25 years in the prison of the Robben Island, and has presided over some of the time of the African National Congress on May 18, 2002: “What is appreciated in life is not that we have lived it, but what we have caused of difference in the lives of others, and this determines the significance of the life that we lived”.

– From the documentary film (Mandela the live legend 2003): “I think that the United States is intoxicated due to force”.

– In the (Live 8) concert in Johannesburg on July 2, 2005: “We live in a world where knowledge and technology have made huge strides and even though there are millions of children who do not go to school. We live in a world where AIDS threatens our lives”.

“Yet, we spend money on arms more than spending it to provide treatment and support for millions of people who are infected with the (HIV) virus. It is a promising world that has a lot of hope. But, it is also a world of despair, disease, and hunger”.

– When being chosen as an ambassador of conscience by the Amnesty International in 2006: “Like slavery and racial discrimination, poverty is not natural. People are those who made poverty, tolerated it, and people also are those who will overcome it”.

– 1999: “On the last day of my life, I want to make sure that those who will live after me will say (this man who is laying here has fulfilled his duty for his country and his people)”.

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